THE DESPERADO TRAIL (WINNETOU: THE LAST SHOT)

(director: Harald Reinl; screenwriters: novel by Karl May/Joachim Bartsch/Harald Petersson; cinematographer: Ernst Kalinke; editor: Jutta Hering; music: Martin Bottcher; cast: Lex Barker (Old Shatterhand), Pierre Brice (Winnetou), Rik Battaglia (Rollins), Carl Lange (Governot), Ralf Wolter (Sam Hawkens), Sophie Hardy (Ann), Mihail Baloh (Gomez), Dusan Antonijevic (White Buffalo), Slobodan Dimitrijevic (Chief’s Son), Veliko Maricic (Vermeulen, land speculator); Runtime: 93; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Horst Wendlandt; Rialto Films; 1965)

“A routine European Western.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A routine European Western helmed by Harald Reinl(“Crazy Jungle Adventure”/”The Terrible People”). It’s based on the German author Karl May’s popular novel about a fictional Indian hero. The writers, Joachim Bartsch and Harald Petersson, make it into a simplistic good vs. evil story. As a substitute for the Old West, it was shot in the rugged terrain of the former Yugoslavia. After the Civil War, in the Arizona Territory, the outlaw Rollins (Rik Battaglia) is a land grabber, who follows the settlers West. He partners with crooked land speculator (Veliko Maricic) to grab the valuable land of two Indian tribes by inciting them to go to war and thereby forfeit their land according to the peace treaty. The good guy is the frontier white man Old Shatterhand (Lex Barker), who helps his friend Winnetou (Pierre Brice), the Apache chief, try and keep the peace. Rollins uses Winnetou’s lost knife to stab to death the Jicarilla Chief’s son (Slobodan Dimitrijevic) and frame Winnetou for the murder. It’s up to Old Shatterhand to prevent a war

REVIEWED ON 1/12/2017 GRADE: B-   https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/